Hibernian captain Chris Hogg insists the Easter Road team can recover from their Europa League disappointment in time for the Clydesdale Bank Premier League kick-off against Motherwell on August 15.
John Hughes' outfit were soundly beaten in both legs of their third qualifying round encounter with NK Maribor, losing 3-2 at home on Thursday after a 3-0 defeat in Slovenia seven days earlier.
However, Hogg said: "The league is a different kettle of fish. Any team that plays in Europe will tell you that. Us being in pre-season and playing against a team that are in their season was a big factor. It's not an excuse but it's a big factor."
He added: "When we go into the league it's a whole different game. You approach it differently in terms of your game plan and things like that, so we're looking forward now to getting into the league and battering into it."
Hogg played through the pain of a knee injury to see out the game against Maribor, a match that was always likely to be a bridge too far for Hibs.
Going into the second leg they required four goals to progress to the play-off round and their task became even more improbable when they conceded a soft goal to Maribor captain Marcos Tavares from a corner after only 19 minutes.
The opener came after a sustained spell of pressure from Hibs and instantly deflated both the hosts and their supporters on a European occasion that ended up being one to forget.
Hogg added: "We changed our game plan and went long. We talked about getting the ball forward early and it wasn't the prettiest of stuff. We were told to put the ball into big Nishy (Colin Nish) as often as we could and play off that, get us into their half and put pressure on them.
"I thought we did that for the first 15 or so minutes, we were on top of the game and they didn't really create much early on. But then we lost a goal from a set play, which is very disappointing to concede from, and when the boy scored the header it has obviously killed us in terms of the tie.
"We showed a half-decent spirit to keep going. We wanted to win the football game at home but it wasn't to be."
Source: PA
